Protesters Bringing Message Underground With Plan To ‘Occupy The Subway’

If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The group behind the “Occupy the Subway” demonstration planned for this afternoon says they have no intention of disrupting subway service.

The group “99 New York” said they will be holding “subway speakouts.” According to the group, the speakouts will consist of unemployed and underemployed people telling their stories in the subway system.

“The Mayor’s office has been characterizing the Subway speakouts as an attempt to ‘shut down’ the subways. THIS IS FALSE. The Subway speakouts will not involve any attempt to disrupt subway operations,” the group said in a press release.

The clarification came after dozens of arrests in lower Manhattan at the beginning of Occupy Wall Street’s “Day of Action.”

The demonstrators are planning to target 16 stations this afternoon, including Union Square, Borough Hall in Brooklyn, the Jackson Heights station in Queens, the stop at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and the ferry terminal on Staten Island.

Here is a list of speakers/itinerary:
Manhattan: A/C/1 station at 168th and Broadway– Carmen Perez, single mother living with her brother because lack of affordable housing
Manhattan: A/B/C/D station at 125th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue; 4/5/6 station at Union Square– Monnie Callan, retired hospital worker caring for elderly sister
Brooklyn: A/C/L/J/Z station at Broadway Junction– Edgar Andrade, small business owner struggling to support family through layoffs
Brooklyn: 4/5 station at Borough Hall– Valerie Peterson, underemployed healthcare worker relying on children to make ends meet, struggles with diabetes
Bronx: 4 train station at Fordham Road– Wanda Fuentes, underemployed home care worker caring for mother with Alzheimers
Bronx: 4/D station at 161st St – Yankee Stadium– Minerva Morales, unemployed single mother and Christine DeLeon, evicted tenant
Bronx: 6 station at Hunts Point Avenue– Rosa Balbuena, unemployed mother of 4
Queens: E station at Jackson Heights/Roosevelt Avenue– William Berry, veteran and small business owner
Queens: E/J/Z station at Jamaica Center Parsons/Archer– Juan Pelaez, lost job after workplace injury, facing eviction
Staten Island: St. George/State Island Ferry Terminal– Zaida Moreno, fired due to budget cuts and hasn’t found stable work for 2 years, now suffering medically due to stress

It’s all planned just in time for school dismissal and the evening rush.

Bill Dobbs is one of the organizers of the “Day of Action.” He says the massive protest is meant to galvanize public support for the Occupy movement.

“The message is really about who gets what in this country,” he said. “We are the 99 percent. Who gets the safety net? Who gets thrown under the bus?”